TWO Ipswich drug dealers are today serving sentences totalling more than 10 years after the forces of law and order cracked down on them with an iron fistIn a show of strength from the justice system John Hume and Gary Bultitude were given tough prison terms, which it is hoped will deter others.

TWO Ipswich drug dealers are today serving sentences totalling more than 10 years after the forces of law and order cracked down on them with an iron fist

In a show of strength from the justice system John Hume and Gary Bultitude were given tough prison terms, which it is hoped will deter others.

Speaking after they were convicted, detective chief inspector Louisa Pepper, Suffolk police's southern area crime manager said the sentences sent out a strong message to other drug dealers.

Ipswich-based Det Ch Insp Pepper said: “This is all part of our ongoing Operation Crackdown which tackles Class A drug dealers. It shows this kind of activity will not be tolerated.”

Gregory Perrins, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court, said the properties police raided included Nightingale Road and Lanercost Way where the defendants lived.

The drugs were mainly found in a flat leased by Bultitude in Cardiff Avenue but cutting agents, drug tracers, scales and a gas cylinder designed to hide drugs were found at the address where he lived in Lanercost Way.

No drugs, paraphernalia or money were found in Hume's car or home but there was about £50,000 unaccounted for in his bank account. Mobile telephone calls also linked him with the drug supply and his fingerprint was found inside the gas cylinder along with drug traces.

Mr Perrins said about 1.2kilograms of amphetamine (speed) worth up to £19,000 and around 57grams of cocaine valued at around £2,300 were seized from a concealed compartment in the kitchen where Bultitude's fingerprint was also found.

Hume, a 38-year-old father of three, pleaded guilty to possessing eight ounces of herbal cannabis and a jury found him guilty of being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and cocaine.

Bultitude, 44, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and cocaine a week before his trail was due to start.

The court heard that Hume had previous convictions for assault and burglary but only one offence of drugs while Bultitude had only two previous convictions, neither of which were drug related.

Roger Harrison, mitigating for Hume, said his client was a builder and had run a burger van and the large quantities of money in his bank account had come from these enterprises.

Naomi Perry for Bultitude said her client had pleaded guilty and was “very far from the prime mover, he was an accomplice who was dominated by others”.

Mr Recorder, Mark Lowe QC, said: “You were vital to the operation of drugs in this area”.

Hume was jailed for six years although most of the evidence against him was “overwhelming inference” rather than hard evidence.

Bultitude was jailed for four years and five months and he was described as “a complacent landlord who turned a blind eye” to feed his own drug habit.

N Does the punishment fit the crime for this pair? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk